WA-05: Goldmark might pull off the unthinkable

The solidly red 5th Congressional district in Washington State is now in play as residents are outraged at the high-spending GOP Congress.

Eastern Washington is well-known as the conservative counter-balance to Western Washington's progressive stronghold.  Even the Eastern Washington city of Spokane, the second most populous city in the state behind Seattle, is a solidly Republican area.  As a life-long resident of Western Washington and a frequent traveler to the east side, I never thought that I would live to witness the fifth district turn blue.  In politics, the larger that the district is geographically, the more likely it is to lean Republican (a conclusion that I came to in 2004).

Even with all the odds stacked against the Democrats in that district, the DCCC believes that they can pull off the upset.  Incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA) is facing off against Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark.  This week, the DCCC made a major financial investment to help Goldmark:

This week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pumpednearly $62,000 into eastern Washington’s 5th District — represented byfreshman Republican Cathy McMorris — in hopes of boosting the chancesof their unexpectedly competitive underdog nominee, Peter J. Goldmark,a rancher and molecular biologist. The money was targeted to campaignad production and a media buy.

I have reason to believe that the DCCC has made a good investment.  The GOP are worried.  Conservative blog sites all over the Northwest are in panic mode.  One site even called Democrat Peter Goldmark a "nutty candidate", and has gone into full scale attack mode.

But it doesn't end there.  A few days ago, the media overheard a phone call between GOP incumbent Cathy McMorris and a U.S. Congressman from Idaho who ironically is also facing the possibility of being ousted in November (yes, I did say Idaho!):

We got this courtesy of a glitch in telephone technology and Spokane Spokesman-Review political reporter Jim Camden. Camden on Thursday haddialed in to listen to a McMorris town hall session on veterans. Placedon mute (so that he couldn't participate) - but inadvertently not onhold, like other participants, which would have blocked the privateconversation - he overheard some pre-meeting chatter between McMorris and Idaho Senator Larry Craig, who chairs the Senatecommittee on veterans services. During that short conversation,McMorris told Craig, "It's a closer race than I first imagined," andadvised her fellow Republican that Goldmark was "hitting very hard" onveterans issues.

Craig's response was that nationally, "The new numbers are just devastating."

Again, I am shocked that this is happening in the 5th District.  But in this election, anything is possible.  Most Americans, including many Republicans, feel betrayed by a Congress that has done nothing other than spend our money at a reckless pace and act as a rubber stamp to President Bush.  McMorris and all other House Republican incumbents have proved over the last two years that they are big-government conservatives, and are proud of it.  Taxpaying citizens in the 5th district have every reason to be outraged by it.

If you are in a giving mood, please help out the Peter Goldmark Campaign in any way that you can.

Comments

[george]

is it goldmark or goldberg

[Administrator: Todd]

oops! Thanks for pointing out the error. I fixed it.